CGC, Argentina's Sixth-Largest Gas Producer, Seeks to Export to Chile, Bolivia and Brazil

Hugo Eurnekian, president and CEO of Compañía General de Combustibles (CGC), stated on August 21 that the oil and gas company belonging to the Corporación América group, Argentina's sixth-largest gas producer, is advancing a plan to export Vaca Muerta gas to Chile, Bolivia and Brazil. The project repurposes existing pipelines and infrastructure to enable liquefaction capacity on Chile's Pacific coast, according to an interview with Bloomberg Línea.

The growth of production at Vaca Muerta will generate increasing volumes of gas associated with oil output, and CGC is seeking markets to absorb that supply. Eurnekian argued that the company holds "resources and reserves comfortably above domestic demand" and that the challenge is to accelerate development to become a global energy export player. The company holds stakes in Transportadora de Gas del Norte (TGN) and GasAndes, assets that connect the Neuquén basin to the Pacific coast. The plan was first presented in March in Houston, at a side event of CERAWeek, according to La Nación.

The Pacific route brings Argentine gas closer to the main buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia, at shorter distances than Atlantic alternatives. The concept, Eurnekian explained, is "to convert Chile's regasification terminal into a terminal that also has liquefaction capacity," expanding and adapting existing facilities rather than building from scratch. The decline of Bolivian production, which has shifted from being a supplier to Argentina to a potential market, opens a second corridor: from TGN, work is underway on a major infrastructure project to supply Bolivia with Argentine gas and, in a second phase, reach Brazil. "These are not greenfield investments, they are brownfield investments on existing projects and infrastructure," the executive said.

The announcement comes as CGC also advances at Palermo Aike, the unconventional formation in Santa Cruz that the company considers a second shale hub for Argentina. According to Bloomberg Línea, the company completed the first fractures in vertical wells and participated alongside YPF in a first horizontal well. The next milestones to watch are YPF's progress with a new well and CGC's search for partners to accelerate geological knowledge of the formation, along with the long-term contracts that would enable Vaca Muerta gas to reach regional markets.

This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.